UK riptide deaths prompt Sri Lanka warning

The recent drowning deaths of five young Sri Lankan men at a popular UK beach resort tragically illustrates the dangers of phenomena also common along Sri Lanka’s beaches—riptides.

TheSunday Times carries a lengthy warning from Sri Lankan expert Dr Wijaya Godakumbura, who addressed the Second World Conference on Drowning Prevention in May this year.

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‘Safest country’ underscore tourism campaign

‘One of the world’s safest countries’ is the cornerstone of an upcoming Sri Lanka tourism promotion campaign, it was announced at the recent Hospitality Conference on the India Ocean in Colombo.

The Sunday Times reports that “arrivals are soaring, with July 2016 clocking the highest month ever on record with 2019,351, up 19.1 per cent from the same month in 2015 and beating the record set last December of 206,114.”

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Taprobane Island features in The Week

The Week news website in the UK features Taprobane Island in in a report on private islands available to rent throughout the world for “those willing to spend a little bit extra on their holiday”.

It explains how “this Sri Lankan landmark was founded in the 1920s by eccentric Frenchman Count de Mauny Talvande, who settled on the tantalising tropics while searching for an earthly paradise”.

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Tourism targets India, China, cruises, MICE

Lanka Business Online reports that China and India are key markets for tourism “while looking for niche-sector growth from MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) and cruise tourism”.

It quotes tourism minister John Amaratunga as saying: “The Indians like to come here for an atmospheric change when the weather is hot there, and they like the food, plus our cultures are similar.”

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Europe terror threat ‘boosts Sri Lanka tourism’

The Indian Express reports that the threat of Islamic terrorism in Europe may be helping to boost tourism in Sri Lanka, a country now billed as one of the safest in the world.

It says: “Given the restoration of peace and democracy in the island country after the January 8, 2015 Presidential election won by the dove, Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka has been attracting tourists like never before.”

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Medical tourism in the spotlight

The Dily FT reports that major Sri Lanka health provider Lanka Hospitals “now looks to medical tourism to further enhance its profitability while consolidating its leadership in the local healthcare industry”.

The hospital “has long sought to provide its patients with truly world-class healthcare services”, which is “now reaping rich dividends…increasingly asserting itself as the healthcare provider of choice for patients in Sri Lanka and as well as within the region”.